Mushroom Bolognese (And Vegan MoFo in November!)

Hey, soon it’s that time of the year again! The Vegan Month of Food is coming to you in November. And although I thought last year was my last MoFo, turns out it’s not. And here’s a little preview to what we’re gonna do on Seitan Is My Motor.

Vegan MoFo originated in the US as did vegan blogging. In my opinion, MoFo very US-centered but every year lots of international bloggers, especially from Europe, are participating, too. Whenever I took part I always wanted my Vegan Month of Food to be about German cooking. And since the thing I can do best is cakes (or that’s what I like to think) I would concentrate my efforts on cakes. This year, I cannot do that. Baking can be super time consuming and even I, the sugar advocate, can only have so much sugar in a day. And a Vegan MoFo sugar high is too much, even for me.

I am almost working full-time now and I have a family. In the last two or three years I tried to still take part in Vegan MoFo full time and failed. This was mostly because I still did try to take the best photos I could and would write all of my posts in two languages. While working and trying to spend time with my family. And of course that didn’t go so well. So this year I am planning to do a part time MoFo, which means I am going to publish new content every second or third day during the month of November.

Since last year’s MoFo my life has changed a lot. I was a very trial and error kind of year. I wasn’t really sure in which direction I wanted to go, tried a couple of things, failed a few times and often felt really miserable. Now I finally have a job I really like. And it has to do with food, or more specifically with organic and often local food. It also has to do with trying to consume things in a more sustainable way. It’s great I get to think about these things at work now. It’s great I have co-workers I can discuss these things with and it has given me a lot to think about, especially when it comes to veganism and the way I as a vegan consume products. (A topic I have already discussed here.)

So this years theme will be about German cooking again. But in a more general way. I am calling it Warming Winter Meals. I want to focus on colourful local vegetables and mostly local ingredients. Or on stuff that is new to me and I’ve always wanted to try. I am planning to use many ingredients, which are often used in traditional German cooking, too. Most of those ingredients aren’t that spectacular, because you probably use them too: Buckwheat, flax, oats, and kale are examples. But other ingredients may be very new to you like sea buckthorn, yellow wheat flour, or black pearl amaranth. Some of these foods aren’t really a German thing. Rather they are a result of diverse organic farming. (That black amaranth is grown in Austria, for example.) Some of them are trend foods, a result of the super food theme that is going on lately (like aronia berries or tiger nuts). To sum things up: I am trying to develop new recipes with traditional ingredients and traditional recipes with new ingredients.This is going to be fun and I hope you like the idea!

Since MoFo is in November, I want to make my food as colourful as possible. If you have ever been to Germany in November, you will know exactly what I mean. It is the most depressing time of the year ever. It is dark and cold, often rainy and foggy. It’s the time where almost everyone wishes they lived on a sunny island somewhere in Southern Europe. Or at least anywhere where you can see the sun once in a while. But because we cannot have that, we can try our best to make warm and colourful food that will chear us up. And I hope I will have lots of that!

Like this mushroom bolognese I made a while back with local tomatoes. Tomato season is mostly over here now, I admit that. But this dish makes such a great contrast to the terrible grey sky I see when I look out of my window. And it makes me remember and savour all those great summer flavours. This year it seems that November has come very early.

9 Comments

I am glad you are still going to do Vegan Mofo this year! I love the international blogs the best. Even if it is other anglo-speaking countries like Australia or England. I can’t wait to see the German recipes you post. For being someone is part German, I don’t ever eat that style of food!

Looks lovely! Glad to hear you will be participating and I think your theme sounds great. I find it all a little overwhelming at times too – as you say it is difficult to balance work and regular life commitments with trying to post every day at a certain standard. I didn’t think I would participate this year either, but changed my mind at the last minute, but have also given myself a target of 3 posts per week in order to keep my sanity. Great to hear that you’ve got an enjoyable and rewarding job too :)

I can’t wait to read your MoFo posts and I’m loving the idea of focussing on sustainability, local veggies, and local ingredients. Your new job sounds great, I’m in the process of working out what I actually want to do right now and it’s definitely a challenging process.

I will be interested in seeing what you post in vegan mofo – I have signed up this year and a bit concerned about how much time I have for it but I enjoy it – it inspires me to try a bit harder and to check out some new blogs and see what old friends are doing. Glad you are enjoying your work – and that you can still find some time for blogging – and nice bolognaise too!